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After New Years Day most of us begin the tedious task of removing the once beautiful Christmas tree from our living rooms. It's a job we all hate but one that has to be done. So lets try to make the best of it. Here are some suggestions to make it fun and easy!

Make it a family affair. Gather the children, teens, Dad, Gram and Gramps together and get the job done quickly. Have the small children remove the tinsel and any unbreakable ornaments they can reach. The teens and Gram can remove breakables and garlands and Gramps gets the job of removing the lights. Topper removal of course goes to Dad! "Way to go Dad!" What is your job? You will be gently packing all the ornaments away into their boxes, bins and if needed the trash can.

After the tree is stripped naked, the real fun begins! The very best way to get that once fresh, but now sap dripping, needle shedding tree out the door without it shedding on the carpet is to roll it up into a sheet.

Use the biggest sheet you have, unfold it in front of the tree and gently lay the tree down on top. Position it so it can be rolled up inside the sheet, then Dad and Gramps can manhandle that bundle out the door. Viola, problem solved.

Now make the tree a bird feeder.

This can also be a family project, everyone will be happy to help. You have planned ahead; while you out there doing your Christmas shopping, you picked up some beef suet! This is a fatty substance that wild birds like to eat and that helps them live during the winter months. It comes in chunks, usually wrapped up in wire mesh. But you are clever; you have made plans to make the tree into a bird feeder once it was removed from the house, so you have supplies needed to do just that!

Supplies:

-4 blocks beef suet

- 1 qt. peanut butter

-2 lbs. birdseed, corn, raw shelled peanuts and sunflower seeds

-String or leftover Christmas ribbon

-Your Christmas tree

-Plastic knife for each person

Putting it all together:

Once the tree is outside you can make the feeder.

Remove the suet from its packaging, cut into 3 inch squares, its easy to cut. Give each person a knife, some squares of suet, a few yards of ribbon and a paper bowl full of seeds. Set the opened peanut butter in the middle of the table.

Each person then will tie a string of ribbon around one section of suet, paint the suet on all sides with peanut butter and then roll the cube into the seeds. Once rolled and seeded it can be set aside until all have finished their work.

Now everyone takes the seed encrusted trinkets and hangs them on the ousted, befuddled Christmas tree; making it useful once more. The tree will be filled with nutritious food for the winter birds that live in your neighborhood.

The whole thing is good for the birds, the suet gives them much needed fats and helps them stay warm, the seeds and peanut butter give them protein and fiber and the tree will give them shelter.

Within a few days the tree will have been picked clean of the food by the birds. Your family might like to do more or you can now proceed with the recycling of the yuletide tree by having it made into mulch at your nearest garden center store.

One thing is sure; if you build it they will come.

Birds love trees, are constantly searching for food, why not create a family memory by re-doing your Christmas tree for the birds before chipping it away for mulch? Recycling can be fun, try this project and find out!

Learn more about this author, Sheila Watson Kraklow.
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